


The King and the murderer

by Mila_o_Tuna



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Angst, Assasin!Keith, F/M, Fluff, Forbidden Love, M/M, War, alternative universe, good times vs bad times, klance, prince!lance, responsebilities, unwanted engagement, what to choose, will Lance be king?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 12:44:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12935562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mila_o_Tuna/pseuds/Mila_o_Tuna
Summary: Lance is a prince born to inherit the throne, of a land that is on the way to war. But how will his encounter with a stranger change his fate? What will happen when the stranger becomes something more? And is he even someone to be trusted?In a time where everything must be kept a secret what is the truth?





	1. An Unfortunate Meeting

The sun was shining over the marvelous walls of the Tireralos kingdom’s beautiful castle. As tall as a dragon, specked with hundreds of rooms. It was solely white walls with the deepest royal blue color on every roof and small golden details surrounding all the doors, like a true fairy tale castle. Even the places meant for the servants were extensively decorated. The servants was not left out in this castle. They even had rooms where they could stay the night whenever they wanted.  
One would say that this tremendous decoration was caused by the royal family living at the castle. The very rulers of the country. It was a big and generous family who listened to their people’s prayers. These rulers were not only were there the King and the Queen. No it was as well their 6 children who stood ready to take over the throne whenever the king was to fall ill or die. Well that said there was actually only one child with that burden. The first-born boy, yet he had two bigger sisters, the law was to determine who would be able to or rather whose duty it was to inherit the throne. And as of now it was to be a man. Therefore, he had been brought up to one day become the king.  
But he was tired of living a king-to-be’s life and often ran away from the castle for a day at a time, to live the life of the poor. Just to try it. And there he had met his best friend. The two of them had been friends ever since the prince had ran away for the first time at the age of 9. Ever since that day he had been able to get away once every second week, sometimes more and sometimes less. That depended on how many duties he had.  
Today the Prince turned 20 but that wouldn’t stop him from going out to see his friend. The castle would host a big party tonight and he were first to attend to chores of getting ready after midday. In other words he had all morning free.  
After he got by his sisters and brothers wishing him a happy birthday he managed to escape to the city. It was less showy than the castle. Most houses where built of tree, and hosted whole families inside two rooms. Yes even though the king was generous he, or anyone else besides the Prince rarely visited the town to see what it was like.  
The prince walked into a house where another family was seated at a table for breakfast. This was the bakers family so they had three rooms, one living room, one bedroom and a room to have the bakery.  
A guy about the same age as the prince stood from the table as soon as he saw who had entered the room.  
“Lance!” he almost shouted.  
“Hunk” the prince, whose name was Lance, shouted back. Hunk was the bakers son and Lance’s best friend outside the castle.  
“Happy birthday buddy!” hunk said as he went to hug his friend. It had been almost four months since his last visit.  
“Haha thank you! Now I’m an adult as they say”  
“Maybe by age, but I know you and you’ll never grow up” Hunk said and the two of them laughed at that joke.  
Hunk’s mom invited Lance to have breakfast with them, after all this was like his family outside of the palace.  
Hunk’s stomach made a rumbling sound and Lance agreed to eat with them. There were something special about food that was not served on a silver dish.  
“So I’ve heard a lot about the ball tonight” hunk’s mom started out.  
“oh yeah? Everyone is invited so I hope you’ll all come and celebrate me!” Lance was talking in-between his bites of the freshly made bread they served.  
“And we’ll be there of course” She said.  
“what is a party without a cake anyways? And we are after all the only baker in town” Hunk’s dad said with a laugh, he was the one running the business and also the one who baked the cake for tonight.  
“oohhh I cannot wait to taste that cake!” Lance said.  
“It will be like a fairy tale ball!” Hunk’s little sister now joined in on the conversation as well “I’ve heard that you’ll find you true love tonight!  
Lance who was about to drink some water spat it out, was that something he hadn’t heard about? “What?!” he said.  
“yeah, the rumors goes around that a lot of princesses are invited so you can find one to fall in love with so you can you know, get a queen” Hunk explained, he thought Lance knew that.  
“what?! Seriously? But I’m not ready to tie myself down yet! I mean I am a quality product, I need to keep myself available to all women all the time, or else I’ll disappoint, and that’s not good for a prince”  
The bakers family merely laughed at the princes statement.  
“I’m surprised that you’re not even reacting on the fact that your birthday ball will be swarmed by princesses who all want to dance with you” Hunk pointed out a detail Lance had not thought yet about.  
“Oh! Ohohohoho they all want a little lancey lance” he said. “In that case it might be a good birthday present after all”  
“just be careful not to hurt their feelings too much, we wouldn’t want a war with such a silly purpose” The mom joked.  
“ahh don’t worry Mary, I’ll only leave them swooning for me” Lance said and winked.  
He then stood again for it was time to return before his parents would be mad.  
“So I’ll go, thanks for the dinner and I’ll se all of you tonight” Lance said before he left.  
All the way home he thought of the information he had gathered at the dining table. Would they really ask him to marry someone right now? But he had never even been in love. There had only been small crushes but not enough to marry anyone. So what if he married someone he didn’t love and then afterwards fell in love with someone else, that would be troublesome. He quickly threw away that thought when he reached the palace. After all this could just be his excuse to kiss as many princesses as he liked tonight.  
The day went by with preparations. More guards where hired for the day than there had ever been. Properly just because there were going to be so many people.  
Before the party began, the prince was called to his fathers room to have a talk between men. He was already dressed and ready for the party at this time. Wearing a deep blue royal jacket made from only the softest velvet one could find, specked with gold details on the shoulders and down the middle. He wore a cape on one shoulder and rope hung down the other. His pants where white as snow and they were stuffed down deep blue boots of which had the royal house mark embroidered on each side.  
“Hi dad” Lance said as he entered his father’s room.  
“ahh Lance, you look good” he started out, his father was a little taller than him with the same color of hair and a beard to go with it. It was clear to see how much older this man was. He seemed a little aloof.  
“thanks” Lance said with a smile, hearing how good he looked was always nice no matter where at came from.  
“Son come here and sit down” He said.  
“is it about how I need to find myself a wife tonight?” Lance asked as he sat down besides his father who only laughed of he remarks.  
“No son, your mother will talk to you about that after this. No what I’m going to tell you is a little worse I’m afraid” The king looked down.  
“then, what is it?”  
“Look I wouldn’t tell you before, because I didn’t want to worry you, but there’s a chance you, or anyone of this family is in danger. You see our neighboring kingdom and I have come to a disagreement, and we might be on a verge of war. But they are invited tonight and I don’t know if they could bring someone dangerous” He explained.  
“That’s why there’s so many guards hired today”  
“Yeah exactly. And that is also why I am asking you to get on the good side of their daughter, so that could maybe prevent the war”  
“oh. I mean sure dad. I am good with women so you can count on me”  
“that’s good to hear my boy!” The king once again smiled, like a burden had been lifted from his shoulders. “now go talk to your mother and go to you ball, a great night awaits my son on his 20th birthday!” the king stood. It seemed that it wasn’t hard to get him in good mood.  
Lance went to talk to his mother. She told him about how important it was to have a queen, and that if he found one tonight she’d be really happy. He didn’t know though.  
The party began and the princesses were announced each after each other. there were a lot, the queen was certainly wishing for her son to find one to marry.  
As the ball moved on Lance had managed to make a few remarks with some princesses, and kissed every princess hand he walked by. He was luckily accompanied by Hunk who had thrown together his finest clothes. It was a yellow-ish dress-shirt and a pair of pants of which was still intact.  
“so if you have to find a wife, and be on the good side of the daughter of our neighbor country. Then why not go after her. That’s two birds with one stone” Hunk asked.  
“I’ve thought about that myself, but what if she’s hideous?” Lance said.  
“aw come on, she’s a princess” Hunk said.  
“I don’t know some of these girls aren’t as pretty as I thought they would be.”  
“that’s mean Lance”  
“I know I know, but If I love someone, aren’t I supposed to find them beautiful?” Lance asked.  
“well I guess”  
The door opened and yet another guest arrived. A princess with her parents and a few extra people. Lance glanced up only to meet the sight of a beautiful girl with long white hair and a beautiful pink dress. They were announced as the neighboring country of which his father had mentioned.  
“seems like it won’t be a problem” Lance said and walked to her.  
“welcome princess. I believe we haven’t met before. I am Lance the host of the party and Prince of the country” Lance bowed in front of the princess, reaching his hand out to say hallo.  
The princess laid her hand in his so he could kiss it as she introduced her self “I am princess Allura of Alania, pleased to meet you prince Lance” lance kissed her hand and stood up again.  
“so would you like to dance princess?” he asked. She glanced to a guy standing besides her. He was tall with black hair. Who was that? It couldn’t be her brother, everyone in the family had white hair. Maybe her servant, who knew, he was not important to Lance.  
“Thank you but I have to decline that offer right now, perhaps later in the evening will be better” She said with a smile and then walked away with the man.  
Hunk finally went up to Lance again “so how did it go?”  
“I can’t believe she denied a chance to dance with me, everyone else would have been delighted”  
“I think it’s because of that guy she went with? Maybe that’s her boyfriend” Hunk suggested.  
“what? No, really? But I thought I was supposed to score her tonight”  
“maybe not lover boy, but hey there’s plenty of fish in the sea” Hunk laughed.  
“But I want her. She said we could dance later though” Lance said “I’ll just wait for that”  
“alright alright, your highness whatever you want” Hunk said.  
As the night went on they ate food and drank wine. Then they danced and talked like every other ball.  
Lance wanted a chance to dance with Allura without having to ask her again, so he arranged a big couple dance in which you switch partner halfway through the dance so you can finish the dance with someone else and get to know another person. He picked a random girl from the crowd to dance with him. Allura picked someone from the group she had brought, another guy, also black hair. What was that about? Were all their servants black haired?  
The dance began and Lance excused the lady he was dancing with for only dancing half a dance, and assured her that he would meet her after that.  
Allura and the guy she was dancing with seemed close but not in a romantic way. They were talking.  
“so do you understand what you have to do?” She asked him as they danced.  
“of course Princess I’ve known for a while, but I have to get him alone in order for it to happen” he stated.  
“which is why I’m setting you up” she said with a smile.  
“what?” was all he could say before she turned him an took the male role in the dance just before the dance commanded that they should change partner. Then she sent her servant to dance with Lance. Neither of them really understood what was going on before they realized that they were dancing with each other. Lance’s eyes widened, his right hand was placed on another guy’s hip and his hand in the hand of a guy. What was this? Who was this? One of Allura’s servants. Why would she do that.  
For a moment he look in to this guys eyes, he was just a tad smaller than Lance and had blue-gray eyes. His hair was a little longer than the normality, but it did not look bad. After a little while of dancing it was brought to their attention that everyone was staring at them. They stopped dancing and Lance looked around. It was not normal for two men to dance a couple’s dance. Lance Laughed it off and left the dance floor. But he had not let go of the guy’s hand, which only brought him to go with him. He left the dance hall and went to a room, pretty private. Only there Lance let go of his hand.  
“Excuse me?!” Lance said, raising his voice.  
“Excuse you?” The guy answered, lifting his eyebrows.  
“yeah?! What is that behavior? Why did you continue dancing after realizing who I was?!” Lance said, he seemed upset.  
“me?! Why didn’t you?” he shot it right back at him.  
“I was. Well that doesn’t matter I am prince I do what I want!”  
“yeah? But if you didn’t want to dance with me, then why didn’t you just stop?” The guy crossed his arms.  
“I have my reasons! And why was it even you I had to dance with, when I wanted Princess Allura?!”  
“Maybe because she didn’t want to dance with you, but is just to polite to tell you” the guy said.  
“whaat!? But everyone wants to dance with me even you!” Lance took a step closer to the guy to seem intimidating as this fight became more intense.  
“I was asked to it by the girl I serve, so no, not me, and not Allura either. You’re not some kind of prince charming, just so you know. The women out there only want you because you’ll be the king one day”  
“wow and people only want you because you have pretty eyes!”  
“what?” the guy took a step back.  
“what?” Lance said.  
“you said I had pretty eyes” the guy said, he was clearly confused.  
“well I must have had too much wine for me to admit that!”  
“are you drunk?” the guy asked.  
“don’t call me out like that just because I like your hair!” Lance said and immediately swung both his hands in front of his mouth.  
“oh a minute ago you were so upset about not dancing with a Allura and now you’re flirting with me?”  
“I’m not flirting with you! I don’t like men” Lance said between his fingers.  
“whatever” The guy said and turned to leave.  
“Wait, you can’t just leave!” Lance said and reached out and grabbed the guy’s arm.  
“What why not?!”  
“Because if someone saw us go in here together they’ll think we did something” lance pointed at a bed, this was a bed room.  
“Are you serious?! No one will think that” The guy said.  
“oh you don’t know how much gossip there is on this castle”  
“are you not a ladies man who flirts with every woman?” he asked.  
“yes and tonight I’ll have to find my future wife!”  
“good luck with that, bye” he tried to leave again, but Lance still had a grab around his arm. However this time he turned to Lance, twisted his arm and somehow escaped the grab of the prince. After that he turned around to leave the room a little faster than before.  
“wait! I have an idea” Lance ran in front of him and blocked the door.  
“what!?” The guy was clearly about to get frustrated.  
“we’ll just say that you are going to help me find a wife! Then it doesn’t seem weird that we went somewhere privately after dancing” Lance seemed like that was the most genius idea anyone had ever come up with.  
“and would I do that?”  
“because I am the next king-to-be” Lance straightened his back to look more royal.  
“and? You’re not my king”  
“But you still have to follow orders of any king”  
The guy looked at him and sighed “Fine. If that’s what you want, your highness”  
“perfect! I could kiss you right now!” Lance said without listening to himself before he had already said it “Not that I’m going to”  
“No I know, let’s just go now then”  
Lance moved form the door and opened it so they could get out of the room.  
“Just so you know my name is Keith” The guy, whose name were Keith said.  
“Keith! What a good name. thanks for doing this for me” Lance said.  
“no worries” Keith said and walked out.  
For the next hour, Keith walked around with Lance helping him introduce himself to all of the princesses. They all seemed very interested in Lance, and Keith seemed very bored every time he had to stand besides them talking. At one time Lance found a girl he was also interested in and the conversation lasted a little longer. That was when Keith excused himself to go back to Allura and that other guy with the black hair. He talked whispered to them and they both seemed very happy.  
“well it wasn’t your job, but this is even better” Allura said. “Then our job here is done, I’ll be going home again with my parents in two hours, you two are welcome to come with us, but if you would rather stay here, then that is also alright” She then went off to her parents.  
“why didn’t you do it though?” the tall guy asked.  
“I couldn’t, he said people had seen us go in to the room together”  
“Is that all? Nobody knows you, you know you could have just fled through a window”  
“I know that, I have never been caught before you know, so it would have been easy”  
“then there must be another reason” The guy let out a small laugh.  
“Shiro It’s not like that, that would only be trouble” Keith said.  
“Okay but if it is, your secrets safe with me” Shiro smiled at him.  
“it’s not, but thank you, I know you always have my back” Keith said before they were interrupted by no other than the birthday boy himself.  
“Keith! She’s hooked! She wants to meet me in that room in 30 minutes. Just the of us” Lance said as he approached them.  
Shiro laughed and walked away to give them time alone.  
“That’s good for you” Keith said, not really excited for him. He barely knew this guy.  
“That’s always good! Though I don’t know if she’s the one.” Lance said.  
“well you won’t find out by talking to me”  
“but I want to talk to you, you know so I have something to do for the next 25 minutes” Lance stated.  
“don’t you have other friends?” Keith asked. Feeling a little bad if he did not.  
“Of course! I have a lot, but they are not as new as you if you get what I’m saying”  
“not really” Keith admitted. He wasn’t used to this kind of personality.  
“I’m saying I want to get to know you” Lance said  
“okay then, let’s be friends” Keith said. He was now on a new mission. A mission to gain Lance’s friendship for purposes he was not to speak of.  
“yes! Let’s take a walk in the garden, there’s so much noise in here”  
Keith agreed and they went to the garden. It was very big and neatly decorated with beautifully shaped bushes in the freshest green color. Walkways laid out in stone and water fountains all the way to the middle of the garden. The sun had already gone down and the moon was out, leaving the garden only lit up by the moonlight and some small lit torches that were carefully placed along the fountains.  
“Isn’t this the place to take your princess instead of me?” Keith asked.  
“Maybe a little later. Besides this isn’t romantic at all so don’t worry” Lance said, completely oblivious to this Cinderella setting.  
Keith looked him almost like he was from out of space. But let it go.  
“you properly know a lot about me, since I’m the prince and all, so tell me something about yourself.” Lance said. While they were walking along the torches.  
“well I’m from Alania, work” he hesitated “I’ve worked for the king all my life. And because of that I also work very close to Allura and Shiro. He is by the way not her boyfriend. In case you were wondering that. Which I think you were. But he is my closest friend.” Keith normally didn’t talk so much about himself. But there was something about Lance that were sort of comforting.  
“wow so she’s single?” Lance asked.  
“does it matter? Don’t you already have something going on with another girl?” Keith got a little annoyed by that statement.  
“you’re right you’re right. Though that could change. Anyway back to you. Did your parents really let you work when you were a kid?” Lance asked.  
“I don’t have any parents so that was no problem” Keith said  
“I’m sorry”  
“It’s fine, it’s not like it’s a tragedy they just left me when I was a child, and then the king let me live with the servants at the castle” Keith explained. Though he would never admit it, it did hurt him that his parents had left him.  
“then you must have grown up like me” Lance said.  
“there’s not a chance that is even remotely true” Keith said “I did grow up in a castle yes, but it was in the kitchen and the stables and I had to work hard for food every day. So, it’s defiantly different from you childhood”  
“not so much I bet. I’ve been working my whole life as well. Preparing to be king one day. Training everything. I only had time to go see my friends like once every second week.”  
“but besides you chores you’ve had servants do everything and you never have to worry about food, because that’s served to you everyday” Keith said.  
“That’s right.” Lance said and looked down at the water. Small wish were swimming in the fountain.  
It was silent for a moment before Lance spoke again.  
“You know, if you come here I’ll give you some food for free, every times you get hungry!”  
Keith looked at him, not even his own king, queen or princess had offered him free food without giving anything in return. It was a different way of ruling over there.  
“Thanks. That’s sweet of you” He said.  
Lance turned his head and met his gaze “well of course. Isn’t that what a good king should do”  
“I believe it is” Keith answered.  
“besides it might also be a reason for you to come back here sometime” Lance said. Keith only looked at him. Was he already getting this close to him? Why did he want him to come back before he even left? This guy seemed more into him then he’d properly ever admit.  
“that’s a great reason to come back. Then I can maybe get something else than dry bread for once” Keith said.  
They had stopped walking now. They had followed the fountains all the way to the middle of the garden. Long enough for them to be the only ones out there.  
“You can eat with me then, I’ll show you all the great dishes we’re getting served here. And then I can bring you to my friend’s house, he and his dad makes the best bread and cakes I’ve ever had. You have got to taste that as well”  
“it sounds good” Keith said and smiled at him. It was the first time in the evening that he had smiled. It might Lance smile as well.  
“Then I can look forward to see you a lot in the future?” Lance hopefully asked.  
“I never said I would come back”  
Lance looked down.  
“But I’ll say it now. I’ll be back okay. You have to show all that food now that you’ve said you would” Keith said.  
Lance looked at him again. “Yes!” He happily exclaimed.  
“why did you get so happy?” Keith asked. He couldn’t help but to smile a little at it.  
“I just like you that’s all” Lance said.  
“oh” Keith seemed surprised at that remark.  
“Not like that, I mean like a friend” Lance laughed nervously. When he suddenly did realize the Cinderella setting. They were alone again in a situation that could easily be misunderstood. Then he heard someone coming their way.  
“Hurry someone’s coming, let’s hide!” lance said, and before Keith was even able to answer Lance was already on his way into a bush with his hand grabbed around Keith’s wrist. Keith could have easily escaped his grab again but chose not to, simply to see where this would lead them.  
It was Lance’s sister and a prince she had had her eyes on for a while. They were just taking a walk. Luckily for Lance they had managed to hide before his sister had seen them. She would not have stopped nagging him about something like that if she had seen it. Lance was looking out between the leaves. Unfortunately the two stopped for a moment. They could not leave the bush yet.  
Now lance discovered how his hand had let go of Keith’s wrist but instead, he had grabbed his hand. Lance looked down and his heart beat faster. He couldn’t believe that he was there in the evening at a ball holding hands with a guy he had just met. He looked at Keith, and realized how close they had to stand in that small hiding place he had chosen. Keith was looking out of the bush. His eyes caught the moonlight between the leaves. Lane glanced over his face, finding it beautiful. Then Keith looked at him and a pink color showed up on his cheeks.  
They could not say anything because the sister was standing near the bush. They were not in a hurry so it seemed like the two in the bush had to stay there for a while.  
But time went by fast. Soon neither of them even paid attention to their surroundings and the two people left without them noticing. They were looking at each other. finding the situation a little odd, but they did not say anything nor do anything they were just looking at each other’s eyes. They were only inches apart, and they were alone. Completely alone, like ,they were the only ones in the world.  
For a short second Keith glanced at Lance’s lips then at his eyes again, but now they seemed to be closer, almost like Lance had come closer, or was it him who was moving. Before they knew it they were so close that their lips gently touched. Neither of them moved away, and after a short moment Keith leaned closer, making their lips touch completely. Both closed their eyes feeling the sweet temptations.  
Lance wrapped his free arm around Keith’s waist and pulled him closer, which surprised him enough to open his eyes. Thinking what the hell was he doing? Kissing the enemy like that. He closed his eyes again, letting himself enjoy this moment, it would properly be his last, like this.  
After a little while they pulled away, looking each other in the eyes.  
“That was… not supposed to happen” Lance said. He did not let go of Keith nor his hand. In fact he intertwined their fingers instead.  
“No weren’t this what you were scared of people thinking?” Keith asked.  
“yeah, they can’t think something like this happens when I’m supposed to find a wife, not a husband” He said.  
“oh no the girl you were supposed to meet” Keith said pulling a little away.  
“Oh my god! I’m late!” Lance said as he let go of Keith again.  
“You better hurry” Keith said even though something in him didn’t want the prince to leave.  
They looked out the bush to see that no one was there, then they got out.  
“Okay, I’ll go, and uh please don’t tell anyone about this okay?” Lance folded his hand together in front of Keith like he was begging.  
“I’m not saying anything, it’ll be bad for me too you know” Keith folded his arms together.  
“Thank you!” Lance said and turned to leave but turned around again to face Keith immediately. “Also I hope to see you again” He would have kissed Keith’s hand if he hadn’t held them in his arms.  
“We’ll see about that Prince Lance” He said. While Lance looked a little puzzled at him, wondering about if he was ever going to see this man again. Anyway, he could not waste time like this.  
“Right” Lance said and left to go back to the party and his date.  
Keith looked after him all the way to the castle. He not moved out of place himself, simply because he had no idea what to do now. The situation that seemed to unfold was quite unfortunate for him. He had a mission to infiltrate the royal family, to get close to Lance, but he was sure that if he got any closer he would obtain certain feelings of which were very forbidden. He could refrain from the feelings simply by not seeing this Prince but then he would not follow orders and that would be worse.  
As he stood there thinking about what to do next, he heard a voice from behind.  
“Aah I knew it!” Keith turned around to see where this voice came from.


	2. A bad decision

Keith turned around to see it was no other than his closest friend Shiro standing behind him.   
“Oh it’s just you” he was relieved that there was no other.   
“Yeah you’re lucky hah” Shiro laughed as he walked a little closer to have a real conversation with Keith. “do you like him?” He asked.   
“I don’t know” Keith said without thinking “I mean no! No of course I don’t” He was quick to add.   
“You realize how bad this is right?” Shiro looked concerned.   
“I know. I’ll just brush off feelings like always, so it’s not a problem” Keith said like it was nothing.   
“if that is what you want” Shiro said, well aware that that was not what his friend wanted. But who was he to say anything, all he knew was just that Keith had never been in love. He was afraid that something like that could end really badly.   
“It is, so please don’t tell anyone of what you’ve seen here tonight” Keith asked, he knew he would be in trouble if this information passed on to anyone at all.   
“Don’t worry, like I said your secret is safe with me” Shiro said with a smile.   
“Thanks Shiro, I can always count on you”   
They went back to the party and joined up with Allura and her parents, they were ready to leave. As they walked out the door Keith glanced around the hall, somehow hoping he could say goodbye to the birthday prince. But he was nowhere to be seen. He remembered how Lance was supposed to meet up with a princess in secret. The thought of whatever they could be doing at this moment caused a thrown upon Keith’s face. He quickly shook the thought and followed his accomplices out and home to their own Kingdom.   
Lance on the other hand was sitting on a bed in a servant room with the princess. She had been mad that he had been late to their meeting but he had used his charm to make her calm down again. Now she was leaning against Lance with her mouth stretched out, ready to kiss him. He however, hesitated before returning her behavior. Somehow, he wasn’t as in to her now as he had been earlier that evening.  
After a little while of kissing with this Princess he pulled away. She put her hand on his chest, circling her fingers over it.   
“I think this time could be more interesting if you know what I mean” She said as she moved to sit close enough to him that their sides were touching. She began to unbutton his jacket.   
He grabbed her hands gently to make her stop “I know! That would be great! But uh” He was kind of nervous. Normally he would have spent all night with her doing all kinds of stuff. But he didn’t feel like it now. “But if you are a potential future wife, I’m going to have to respect you!” he moved a little bit away from her.   
“What do you mean? I don’t mind” she moved closer to him again.   
“I can’t just use you the first night I meet you. We have to like get to know each other first” He laughed nervously as he once again moved a little bit away from her.   
“But why can’t we just get it done? Then you know if I’m any good and if you want to be with only me for the rest of your life” Her arguments were quite well, but at this moment he was really not into it.   
“I know! And if we’re getting married we have a lot time to that! Don’t you think we should wait till after that, like everyone expects us to?” Lance said.   
“How can I know that will even happen?” She seemed a little pissed off at him again.   
“Uhh” Lance did not know how to get out of this. While saying ‘um’ and ‘uh’ he thought it over. Why didn’t he want to be with her now? Could it be because of Keith? No! No way! He shook off the thought. He could under no circumstances like a guy. He had to marry a girl and this girl was okay.   
“say yes to marry me!” Lance said without even thinking it all through, it was the only way out of this he could think of. It was a bad idea, but it was too late now.   
The girl smiled a big smile “yes! Yes! Yes!” she said and hugged him. Lance laughed nervously but hugged her back. He might have to call off the wedding when the time comes, but he decided to go with it and see if this would turn out well.   
As soon as she was done hugging him she ran out to tell her friends and Lance walked out to join up with Hunk. On his way he looked around, but no one caught his eye.   
“there you are buddy!” Hunk said when he saw Lance.   
“He he hey Hunk” Lance said, he sighed somehow, he felt like he was only just relaxed now that he was with his friend once again.  
“Where have you been all night?” Hunk asked.   
“Oh I’ve been looking for a wife with Keith, and then I took a walk with Keith and hung out. Have you seen him by the way?” Lance asked, totally forgetting the fact that he just got engaged.   
“oh he left with Allura and the rest, why?” Hunk said.   
“oh, he left?” Lance seemed kind of down at that statement.   
“Why?” Hunk asked?  
“oh nothing, I just wanted to ask him something, but it doesn’t matter, anyway, guess what?” Lance tried to brush of his unsatisfied expression and put on.   
Hunk could see him acting a little differently than he usually did but he decided not to ask him about it right bow when they were surrounded by people.   
“did you find a girl?” Hunk asked, knowing that that was one of his goals for the night.   
“Yes! And now your boy is engaged” Lance said.   
“wow already? Isn’t that a little too fast?” Hunk asked.   
“it is! But my mom will be happy so why not?” Lance said.   
“yeah okay, then congratulations!” Hunk said with a smile.   
He hugged his friend to congratulate him. Neither of them smiled though, neither of them really felt like this decision was good, but they both just hoped it would turn out well.   
The party slowly crawled to an end and when the last guests left Lance went to bed. 

It took all night for Allura and her party to get back to their kingdom. So when the sun rose from it’s nap their carriage rolled in the castle gate. All of them seemed tired even though they had been sleeping all the way.   
When the door opened, Keith and Shiro was the first to step outside. Two people came to meet them immediately. A girl and a boy. They almost looked identically except for their hair length. Anyone could tell that they were family.   
“Matt, Katie Hi” Shiro said, greeting the two.   
“Welcome back guys! How was the party?” the guy asked, his name was Matt.   
“It was nice” Keith said.   
The four of them walked towards the stables. There was a table in the middle decked up with some semi-dirty dishes made from wood. On the middle of the table there was a bread and some milk. They all sat down like routine around the table. To eat.   
“So Keith” Katie said as Shiro delivered some bread out to everyone at the table.   
“hmm?” Keith looked at her.   
“was it hard killing a prince? We’ve never done that before, weren’t there a lot of guards?” She asked.   
“Well, I didn’t do it” Keith said.   
“what? Wait are you telling me you failed your mission?!” Matt asked, both of them was clearly surprised.   
“No I didn’t, but I didn’t kill him” Keith said. Both siblings was very confused.   
“The prince picked him as a new friend, and seemed very interested in him. So now we have an insider instead, before we start the war. That way Keith can figure out every single move they’re taking before they take them. And when it’s time to win the war, he’ll be close enough to kill the king instead” Shiro explained what they had been talking about during the party yesterday.   
“That’s genius!” Katie said.  
“Yeah, so instead of killing the Prince, I had to spent all night helping find a princess he could get with” Keith said, seeming annoyed in what he had to do.   
“Wow, sounds fun” Matt said. “at least you get to have a little fun at a party” He added.   
They all laughed at that. This kingdom was a little smaller so there weren’t as many servants in this castle as there were in the Tireralos castle. That meant that these four people had a lot of work to do compared to normal servants. On top of that they were all four brought up to be merciless killers. Keith who had lived all his life in the castle was the best of them and therefore ha got the hardest missions. Then came Shiro who had left his family at 18 and joined the team. Then Matt who had followed Shiro to the castle and signed up together with him. And Katie who arrived two years later to find her brother. The four of them were the only ones with this much worked. The only one who had received special training by the king’s right hand. And almost forced to do his dirty job.   
They ate their bread while chatting. They enjoyed each other’s company.   
A man arrived at the table. He was dressed in fine clothes. Much above what these four would ever get to wear.   
“Keith, I heard what you have done!” He sounded harsh as he spoke.   
“Of course, lord Zarkon. What do you think about that?” Keith looked up at his superior as they talked.   
“I love it! You are a genius. And se heartless! You have been brought up well. I cannot wait till you kill the king and we take the kingdom” As Zarkon talked he padded Keith on the shoulder, like a proud father would.   
“I’m glad my lord” Keith said.   
“That’s what I like to hear, keep up the good work” Zarkon said and left. That was all he wanted to say. Even though he seemed like the kind of person who was always mad, he was happy now. He was even laughing as he walked out the stable.   
Keith did not comment further he looked at his bread. What dry bread it was. They could at least have given them something a little better than this, now that they were doing so well.   
Shiro looked at Keith, hoping he would make it through this. “So you’re properly soon going to be sent back to befriend Lance completely and spy on the family” he stated.   
“You’re properly right” Keith said.  
“you’re so lucky Keith! It sounds way better than cleaning out in the stables all day” Katie whined. 

Back at the Tireralos kingdom the royal family only started to get out of bed. The atmosphere around the castle was nice, the kind of atmosphere there is after a succeeding ball. The servants was all cleaning up the decorations from the party. The royal family met for breakfast.   
“Lance! Was it a good night last night?” One of Lance’s younger siblings spoke to him as soon as he arrived in the meal hall. A giant table of everything the heart desired was already prepared. The royal family only ate what they desired.   
Lance sat down on his usual lined silver chair. “It was the best” he said while taking some food. Eggs and bacon on fresh bread. And ham slowly roasted over a fire over night. He got himself a glass of cooled down fresh milk to accompany the food.   
“uhh and we’ve already heard the spicy rumors” Lance’s big sister, the one they had seen in the garden last night spoke up with a teasingly tone in her voice.   
“what rumors?” Lance asked.   
“That you got engaged!” His mother said happily “I’m so proud of you Lancey!” she was clearly happy that he had found himself a queen. Now he was ready to take over the country if the king should suddenly be unable to stay on the throne.   
“Oh yeah I completely forgot!” Lance said. He had woken up from a dream where he had been holding hands with someone, someone he had kissed the night before. He had felt a feeling of lightness as he walked to the breakfast, subtly daydreaming about that someone he had dreamt of. Only that someone was not the girl he had gotten engaged with. He had forgotten about that. Thrown the memory out rather. A feeling of something heavy being placed on his shoulders was now what he was feeling.   
“How can you forget your own engagement, silly” The big sister laughed.   
“Hey it happened yesterday I just woke up” Lance defended himself.   
“So when can we meet her?” A little brother asked.   
“I don’t know, I believe she’s staying in one of the guest rooms, so you can properly see her today” Lance said.   
“I can’t wait to meet my new daughter” The mother said, completely blinded by what she saw as the perfect happy ending. She did not see the regret in Lance’s eyes. In fact the only one who saw that was the King but he decided not to say anything.   
A couple of days went by. The princess who was supposed to marry Lance, stayed at the castle, in order for her to get to know the family better. Half of Lance’s siblings seemed to like her a lot, the other half not so much. It turned out that she was pretty demanding. Every time Lance decided to do something else than to be with her, she would get very mad and lock herself in her room. Whenever she had cooled down she went to one of his siblings. She was trying really hard to get them to like her. Maybe if they love her Lance would spent a little more time with her.   
But Lance had other things to attend to. Besides his duties he was in a crisis and he needed to talk to someone who was not his family. Luckily, or maybe unfortunately. The Alania kingdom had sent a letter to the king. Explaining how they sent over some servants with a gift and a peace offering. One of the servants could be Keith.   
The thought of the opportunity to see Keith again filled Lance’s head. He was not able to think of anything else. He thought of what he should say to Keith. Of the food he would get him to taste first, and all the places in the kingdom he wanted to show him. He was excited to see him again. Only he did not understand why. 

In the Alania kingdom Keith was called to Lord Zarkon. It was night, the sun had gone down and the only light in Zarkons room came from some small candles placed on his table. His table was full of papers hence he was the king’s right hand and had to take care of papers as well.  
“You called, lord” Keith said as soon as he entered the room.   
“Yes, Keith. We’re sending a gift to the King of Tireralos, and you and Katie have to deliver it.” He started out.   
“a gift?” Keith asked.   
“yes, it’s merely an excuse for you to get back” He stated “Once you are there I want you to spend some time with Prince Lance. You have to gain his trust. You have to make him like you so much that you’ll be invited to stay and so much that he tells you all the secrets and all the moves they are going to have. Once you are invited to stay you’ll send Katie back. After that we’ll move out our first attack. And then I will send Shiro and Matt to get the intel from you once in a while.” Zarkon explained Keith’s mission.   
“Do you want me to live there?” Keith asked.   
“Basically, though you have to come back once in a while to receive new orders. We’re planning on killing the king once the war is at it’s peak. And I’m counting on you to do that” Zarkon said.   
“of course, my lord” Keith said.   
“good. Do you understand your mission?”   
“go to Tireralos with a gift, gain Lance’s trust. Send back Katie and await further orders while spying on the royal family for you” Keith said, showing that he understood.   
“Perfect! I’ve already had the carriage arranged. Katie is waiting for you there. You’re leaving now” Zarkon said as he made a gesture with the hand to make Keith leave.   
Keith bowed and left. He went to the carriage and met up with Katie. On their way to the other kingdom they talked the mission over. Katie was jealous of his mission but happy that she had to go as well. Now it was finally time for her to see the kingdom they were about to conquer.   
The trip took all night. It came as no surprise to Keith, he had already taken it twice before. But Katie was surprised even though she ended up sleeping most of the way. Which was more than you could say about Keith. He stayed up all night planning his next moves. He was nervous of his next encounter with Lance, and kept thinking about the ball. Whatever he did his mind kept reminding him of that kiss in the bush, it had felt so secretive but also so good.   
They arrived at the castle and was easily let in through the gate. The king and queen stood ready to receive them. They had told their kids that they should wait to see the gift until later. However, Lance was so curious that he had tome to the court yard to se if Keith was with the gift. He was hiding behind a barrel so that his parents would not discover him.   
The carriage stopped and Keith and Katie stepped out of the carriage. Lance smiled big the moment he laid eyes on Keith, just like faith had brought them together again.   
Keith and Katie bowed to the king and queen.   
“An honor to stand before you your majesty” Katie said.   
“We’re bringing a gift from our kingdom as an apology and a peace offering” Keith said.   
Both Keith and Katie stood right up again.   
“Very well, let’s see what you have brought” The king said.   
Keith went in to the carriage again and came out with a chest. He put it before the king and opened it up. Inside was a lot of gold coins and an old royal necklace, a symbol of peace. A necklace like this had been used as a symbol of peace for over 500 years. It was a way to bury the hatched that many kings had used before. Therefore it was a sure sign of peace.   
The King and queen looked at each other with a smile.   
“Good. It is always nice to avoid war” The king said with a laugh. “Now you two look very exhausted. You are welcome to stay until tomorrow in one of our guest rooms.”   
“Thank you very much, we would like to do that” Keith said and bowed once again.   
Then the King and Queen left the court yard again because they had other things to attend to. A servant took the gift away to keep it safe. Keith and Katie was left in the court yard while servants took care of carriage and the horses they had brought.   
As soon as his parents was gone, Lance was out of his hiding “Keith!” He yelled as he hurried to him.   
“Hi Prince Lance” Keith kept up the formal tine like he was brought up to do.   
“I’m going to see to the horses. I’ll see you later Keith” Katie said and ran along to see to the horses.   
“who’s that?” Lance asked. He had not expected to see a girl with him.   
“Oh that’s Katie. I work with her in the stables” Keith asked.   
“She’s not like your girlfriend or anything right?” Lance asked.   
“What? No, Katie is like a sister to me. Besides I do not have a girlfriend, I’m not like you” Keith said.   
Lance laughed at that, both because he found the joke about him a little funny and because he was relieved that Keith didn’t have a girlfriend. “Haha right, but hey now that you’re here, would you like to take a walk with me through the city?” Lance then asked.   
“Sure why not, it’s not like I have anything else to do” Keith said, the plan was running smoothly.   
They walked to the city chatting. It took about 5 minutes to reach it, the castle was outside the city and there was a small road that lead to it. When they reached the city Keith looked around. It was not like his home city. Back home every house was made of stone which sometimes had made it appear colder than it actually was. Everything here though seemed so warm and friendly. Lance watched his new friend’s face all the while, finding it somewhat stimulating to watch.   
After a little while Keith asked about the one thing Lance did not want to talk about.   
“How did it go? With that girl you know” he asked.   
“Oh her? Well she was mad at first” Lance said with a small laughter “But I managed to get her to calm down, and then she kissed me but I didn’t really feel like it you know and then nothing else happened” Lance said. He did not mention the engagement, he did not know why.   
“really?” somehow Keith was relieved to hear that nothing had really happened between them.   
“yeah she wanted a piece of the Lancey boy but I’m exclusive” He said like he was real proud of himself.   
“hah really?” Keith found it a little funny, the way he talked about himself “so she wasn’t the one? I thought you were really into her” Keith asked.  
“No, I don’t have such feelings for her, turns out it was just because of the wine haha what can say” Lance really wanted to change the subject, now he had had a lot chances to tell Keith about the engagement but he didn’t.   
“well that’s properly how it is sometimes. But what are you going to do now? Weren’t it important that you found someone?” Keith asked.   
“I have” Lance said without thinking, in fact I thought it and didn’t realize that it was a loud thought. “I mean, it is! But guess I just have to go to some more balls or something, it has to be a princess after all so I can’t just go to the city” He explained, hoping that Keith didn’t catch the first part.   
“Maybe I can get you invited to the next ball Princess Allura throws” Keith said, he had not thought about that first part of Lance’s sentence.   
“That would be great! Then you’re also there to help me!” Lance said.   
“I guess I am” I Keith said.   
Lance’s eye caught something in the market place they had reach, in the middle of the city, that would change the subject.   
“hey look! Here’s something good!” Lance said and took Keith’s hand to bring him to a stand that sold pork on stick. It was an all new thing that one of the citizens had invented. Keith went along with him to see what it was. When they reached the stand they both realized their hands. They looked down at them and could both feel some mild heat gather in their cheeks and they both let go again.   
“This is a whole new way of making food, you have to taste it, it’s really good” Lance said.   
Keith looked it over, he could smell it, and oh boy did it smell good. He had properly never had something that smelled this nice. He looked at Lance “It looks really good but I didn’t bring any money with me” He stated.   
“I was going to pay for you anyway so don’t worry about it” Lance said, he turned to the man in the stand “two please” The man in the stand handed him two pork on sticks and Lance paid. He gave one of them to Keith who took it.  
“Thank you” Keith said, he had not seen that coming.   
“no problem Keith! I told you I would show you some good food!” He said.   
As Keith bit down in the meat his eyes widened. This was so much better than what they got back at his own land.   
“This is really good” Keith said as took another bite.   
“I told you so” Lance said. They sat down at a bench of wood as they ate it. People walked by and greeted Lance as they sat there. When they were done they went on to see the rest of the city. The whole day passed by like this. Lance showed all of the city to Keith, and whenever Keith saw something that could be of interest, Lance offered to buy it to him. However, whenever it wasn’t food, Keith had said no. He should not receive gifts from him, that would be inappropriate.   
They realized how long they had been walking the city when the sun was about to go down. There wasn’t many people out in the streets by now because they were home eating dinner with their families. The golden light from the setting sun hit the walls of the city. They had reached the other end of the city now and was pretty far from the castle. Far enough to see it all, in the golden light. It was a beautiful sight. And Keith felt somewhat at ease by looking at it. Lance suggested that they sat down at a bench near the forest just outside the city.   
As they sat down he sighed “it’s so relaxing to not spend the day in the castle” Lance seemed all relaxed.   
“yeah this has been really relaxing for me too” Keith admitted.   
They sat there in silence for a moment. A nice silence nothing awkward at all. Lance looked over at Keith who was looking at the castle. The golden light hit him just perfectly, making his skin look a perfect beige color. It took the colors of his eyes out as well and Lance caught himself thinking about how beautiful he was.   
Then Keith looked at him, he could feel the gaze from the other. His mouth formed a small smile at the Prince in front of him. It infected on Lance and he smiled as well. He was feeling so good in the company of Keith, he didn’t need anyone else.   
“Keith?” Lance said.   
“yeah?” Keith said.   
“You don’t have to call me prince” he said. He had wanted to say something else but that would have been inappropriate, and it would have worsened his situation tenfold.   
“Okay? Would you like me just to call you Lance then?” He asked.   
“Yeah I’d love that! I mean now that we’re friends we don’t need the formalities right?”   
“No of course not” Keith said “then Lance it is”  
“that’s perfect” He said.   
They looked at each other for a moment. The feeling from yesterday returned, they were feeling alone, lost in each other’s eyes. Lance leaned forward again, he couldn’t stop himself. But Keith could. He put a hand on Lance chest to keep him in a distance.   
“What are we doing?” Keith asked. He wanted to go on but that would only mean bad things.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! If everything annoys you or delights you, please don't hesitate to tell me in the comments! 
> 
> I have the plot thought out very well so I will try to keep the updates coming as fast as possible! :) Thank you for stopping by.  
> If you want more descriptions on anyone's outfit you can just ask! or if you have any questions at all I am here to help.


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